City Council Moves Transit Improvement Forward

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Thu, 11 Aug 2016 15:05:00 GMT

The City Council approved a pair of transit resolutions for inter-local agreements between Doral and the Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The inter-local agreements provide up to $90,000 in grant funding to study the expansion of Doral trolley service to Florida International University (FIU) and the conversion of certain streets into one-way pairs to increase circulation capacity.

City Council Moves Transit Improvement ForwardTrolley Service to FIU and Paired One-Way Streets

Doral, FL – The City Council approved a pair of transit resolutions for inter-local agreements between Doral and the Miami-Dade Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO). The inter-local agreements provide up to $90,000 in grant funding to study the expansion of Doral trolley service to Florida International University (FIU) and the conversion of certain streets into one-way pairs to increase circulation capacity.

The trolley expansion was the initiative of FIU alum, Vice Mayor Christi Fraga. “During a meeting with FIU President Mark Rosenberg, I learned that 4,500 students and 600 faculty and staff live in Doral. We also discussed the mutual benefits of a trolley between Doral and the university. In a later meeting with Public Works and Dr. Shen, our transportation advisor, we discussed how getting just 10% of those drivers on the trolley would clear almost a half mile of cars from 107th Avenue,” explained the Vice Mayor.

“The majority of vehicles in Doral have a single passenger”, declared Dr. Joan Shen “people taking the trolley to FIU can make a big difference in our traffic congestion.”

Plans of the construction work and how it impacts traffic will be reviewed by the Public Works Department, fees will be assessed based on the number of lanes or sidewalks closed. Any construction without a permit will have to pay quadruple the fees.

The second study will examine which two parallel streets in Doral can be converted to an alternating pair of one-way streets. “Unlike reversible lanes, this would be a permanent change that would double the capacity of each of the paired streets,” Dr. Shen pointed out. “The connecting streets between the paired streets would remain two-way so we can maximize both circulation and capacity,” she added. Downtown Miami as well as New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Portland are all cities with paired one-way streets.